Q&A: Janelle Monae on What an 'Electric Lady' Really Is

Janelle Monae gets inspiration from on high. The big dog in the sky. The head honcho. God. Sure, the tuxedo-wearing artist, her hair wound in a perfectly tight quiff, makes music that blends equal parts soul and booty-shaking funk. But the Atlanta-based singer, signed to Diddy's Bad Boy Records and also a member of her self-founded artistic collective Wondaland Arts Society — with the stated goal of creating and destroying ten art movements in ten years — makes no bones about who calls the shots. "The creator," she says, adding that the dude (or lady-dude, for that matter) in the clouds is "the consummate creative; the consummative artist."

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We had to dig deeper here. Monae is too interesting a case not to. We treaded lightly, however. Because when talking to Monae, whose second album The Electric Lady is out this week, one should expect nothing less than a part-philosophical, part-theological swirling discussion that may just lead into a dissertation on all things androids, Bo Diddley, and the fear of being chased by a purple-suited Prince.

ESQUIRE.COM: Hi, Janelle.

JANELLE MONAE: Hi, how are you?

ESQ: I'm great. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk.

JM: I appreciate it as well.

ESQ: So your new album Electric Lady is out. I've read that you and your Wondaland cohorts use the wisdom of your "soul clock" to determine when it's the right time to create new music.

JM: That is correct. Our soul clock tells us when it is time. We're constantly creating. I mean, we have at least two more albums already ready to go. But you have to understand where the world is. You also get visions: A lot of my ideas come to me in my dreams. There will be certain stories that I'll hear that will let me know, "Hey, it's about this time. People need to hear this song or it is time for us to speak about these particular issues." So again, I think that it is all according to our soul clock.

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ESQ: Your music has always intrigued me. Mainly because it serves two purposes: It starts a dialogue and gets people shaking their butts.

JM: We believe in balance in all things. I had a song called "Tightrope." "Don't get too low/don't get too high." Remain balanced. I take the same approach to music. I think it's important to have those songs that are just meant to help you release and have a great time and dance. But I think we need more love and more dance songs that can also serve as empowering as well. When you leave the club, what's the message you get people to take with them? 'Cause when it's time to go to work, there are still going to be day-to-day issues. So I like to make sure that I have a healthy mix between message and good times.

ESQ: It's not surprising that you are so pointed in your goals. You've made music on your own terms since day one when you refused to sign with any record label that stepped on you creatively.

JM: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I was not even going to talk with anyone in the music industry if they were not supportive of my vision. As a creative person and an artist, taking away my creative freedom is like chopping out my soul. I think it's important for me to be able to express myself because my ideas come from God. They're not all mine. They come from the creator, who I might add is the consummate creative; the consummative artist.

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ESQ: When are you delivered such divine inspiration?

JM: I have a lot of dreams. A lot of my lyrics and my visions or ideas come to me. In fact, the other day I had a dream about a band that did not exist. And I heard their music. So I had to record it on my voice memo. So with that being said, I won't allow anyone to interfere with those special moments that happen. Because a song can change somebody's life. Change their energy. It can stop somebody from committing suicide. I take my art seriously. And I'm in a very unique position where I have my own label: the Wondaland Arts Society. I partnered with Sean Combs. And he said, "I don't want to be a part the creative decisions or get involved with the creative part of your career. But I want people to know just who you are." So I'm in a unique position.

ESQ: Do you feel other artists need to demand similar creative control?

JM: I'm not the only person who has this unique position. You have these artists who put their stuff up online and they have websites and they're talking to the people directly. And that's what I encourage. I love the do-it-yourself mentality.

ESQ: Take me inside your vision for The Electric Lady. I know the title came to you while you were painting pictures onstage while performing. You saw them as a vision for what a 21st-century lady should be.

JM: Yes.

ESQ: So is the album about conveying what an "electric lady" is to your listeners, or letting them make that determination for themselves?

JM: It's a combination of both. Again, as you said, The Electric Lady, the title, was inspired by my painting. And as I was painting the silhouette and singing in front of thousands of people night after night, I was thinking about this woman. But I didn't know I was going to name her the electric lady. That title didn't come to me until my therapist recommended that I name the series of paintings and do this showing at a museum or something. I had a hard time coming up with a name for these paintings. I knew right then and there that this woman, whoever she was, that she didn't want to be marginalized or categorized. So I just took my cues from the energy I felt. The visceral reaction that I got. That is why I named her the electric lady. 'Cause there was just this electricity that bounced off each canvas. Of course, I started to dream about a world where there were more women, electric ladies, a new breed, a 21st-century lady. I started to think: What does the electric lady think about love, politics, sexuality, love, and so on?

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ESQ: So then what truly makes someone an electric lady?

JM: Well, we can have different values. But I think the common thread that keeps us connected, and where I nominate you an electric lady, is your service to the community. And understanding that you have these unique superpowers to change the world around you. And electric ladies also want to be the change that they want to see.

ESQ: Your music has advanced the conversation about pop music. Combing R&B, soul, and pop elements, as you do, has in a sense moved the needle and helped encourage artists like Miguel, with whom you've toured, to expand the possibilities of the genre.

JM: I would say the music that we're creating is just honest music. I definitely believe my purpose is not just to be an artist and to be a musician. I have been cursed and blessed with wanting more. And wanting to give more. And wanting to contribute to the community and to bring awareness to certain issues. And so you have songs like "Q.U.E.E.N." Erykah Badu and I wanted to have a female-empowerment song, but we also wanted to raise the questions of how people judge women in society and how they can slut-shame her or treat her differently. And I wanted to raise the question about how we're treating the "others."

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ESQ: When you say "the others," is that like when you describe yourself as an android, different from everyone else?

JM: When I speak about the android, I'm talking about a form of the "other." And the "other" can be parallel to other "others" like the gay and lesbian community or women or how black people have been treated in the past or immigrants or the excommunicated and so on. I want to stand up and speak out for those who don't have the opportunity or platform to stand up for themselves. And so I believe my mission is bigger than just making music.

ESQ: And you use a wide variety of musical influences to do so — from soul to blues to gospel.

JM: I think with TheArchAndroid and all my work it's apparent that I have a very diverse palette. One of the missions for the Wondaland Arts Society is to create and destroy ten art movements in ten years. So with The Electric Lady the first art movement we wanted to redefine was R&B music. I wanted to show how diverse R&B music can be. Because I feel as though the genre is incredible and so fun. Some of my favorite artists explored the genre in ways that have really inspired me. Prince and Stevie Wonder. Or Marvin Gaye. But I feel like R&B music has been very marginalized and regurgitated. And I wanted to highlight people like Prince and Bo Diddley, who is a huge inspiration for "Dance Apocalyptic." This is a black man, Bo Diddley, who inspired rock 'n' roll music. He inspired the Beatles, he inspired Elvis Presley, he inspired Jimi Hendrix, he inspired the Rolling Stones. And R&B music has really inspired rock 'n' roll music and a lot of sub-genres. So I think what my goal has been is to just kind of teach a little music history. I do a lot of studying and going into the past to create a better future in music and remaining innovative in it all. The music that I write is the kind of music I want to see people make.

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ESQ: Lastly, I know Prince has been a major influence on your career. He's even on an Electric Lady cut, "Givin Em What They Love."

JM: I was actually very scared of Prince. I had a dream that he was chasing me in a purple suit growing up. But I started to come where he was coming from musically once I got involved in wanting to be an artist. And it was just an amazing experience. One: I know he doesn't collaborate with many artists, let alone on their projects. And two: to have an opportunity to produce him and bring him ideas and he'd be so receptive and so open to my ideas was truly a dream. I'm still pinching myself in disbelief that it happened. But when he reached out to me, he was so excited about my career and where I'm going and the fact that I own my own recording label and what we were doing at the Wondaland Arts Society. So he's been like a mentor to me, someone I can call if I have any questions or any ideas. And that's what I admire most: that he's willing to give back to the young generation and give whatever advice he can.

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